Timberline Lodge

I started at tradition with the Young Women in our ward of going each summer and spending a night at Timberline Lodge. It is undoubtedly their favorite activity of the year. Timberline has rooms called "chalets" that are no more than bunk-bed rooms. Chalet #15 has 5 bunk beds, and room for lots of girls, and is really cheap. So we rent that room and all have a party. This year it turned out that a lot of girls were out of town or had other conflicts for the trip, so we only had 8 girls. But let me tell you, 8 girls and 2 women can have a lot of fun together.

This year we first went to Trillium Lake for a picnic lunch and hike around the lake. It is such a beautiful spot, and when you are there on a weekday, it isn't too crazy crowded. The girls decided to go "owling," which I learned means you crouch down and pretend to be an owl. Lots of owling going on everywhere.

The view of Mt. Hood from Trillium Lake.Our lunch spot by the lake.

After our hike we checked in to the lodge and spent hours at the pool. Then we went to our room and I cooked waffles. For our dinner we made waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, and educated ourselves by playing the game "Worst-Case Scenario". Then we went back to the pool for a couple of hours, and then back to the room for a round of "What If." Probably the funniest game ever. Usually somebody wets her pants when we play it, but this year I think we only had close calls.

I love my girls.

The view from behind Timberline Lodge.

More owls.

When you lose your scoops

When I go on vacation, I take my cookie scoops with me. Unless I go to my mom's house, because I know that she has a great assortment of cookie scoops. But otherwise I take them with me because I love to make cookies. Whenever I can. I'm just that crazy. I'm pretty serious about my equipment.

We went to Bear Lake last week for Mark's family reunion. We stayed at the Laketown Lodge, which was an amazing and huge rental. I loved it there. We all had a blast and enjoyed all that the big, beautiful house had to offer.

It was a little crazy getting ready for it, because we went camping the weekend before, got home Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at 6AM we were on the road for Utah. I was able to pack all of my cookie-making essentials--brown sugar, flour, sugar, cinnamon, oats, cream of tartar, chocolate chips, and my scoops.

I made cookies every night we were in Bear Lake. This was for about 50 people, so it was a lot of cookies. Snickerdoodles, chocolate chip cookies, monster cookies and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. Each one needs its own size of scoop, you know.

Friday morning we had to check out of the lodge at 10AM. When you have 7 kids and all of their stuff it is a big job to make sure it all makes it back into the car. We checked and double-checked our room. I thought we had everything.

Then last night as I was ready to make our Sunday night cookies, I opened my drawer to get out the proper scoop and discovered I had left the scoops at the lodge. All of them!

I emailed the owner in a panic last night. Luckily the caretaker was there this morning and found my scoops and dropped them in the mail to me. And luckily the missionaries we had over for dinner tonight requested sugar cookies when I asked them what cookies they wanted. No scooping necessary.

The way we camp

I grew up camping. My family camped at least two or three times each summer. Generally these were in primitive campgrounds up in the Uintahs, with outhouses, tables and a fire pit provided. But not much else. My parents never took us to a KOA or other cushy campground with showers, flushing toilets and swimming pools. When we camped there were other people around, but not right next to us making noise or cooking bacon at 6AM. We were pretty isolated. We also camped in a huge tent. I mean HUUUUUGE. I called it the Lehi tent. For those of you non-mormon folks, Lehi is a prophet from the Book of Mormon, and he and his family camped in the wilderness around 600 BC for quite some time. I imagine Lehi and his family had a tent like ours. And probably just as difficult to set up.

I have great memories of these camping trips. Sometimes with neighbors, sometimes with cousins and grandparents. Sometimes just our family. But I loved camping, and I loved cooking outdoors. I still do. I love my Coleman stove and my dutch oven. I was glad when I met Mark that he loved camping as well.

We take our kids camping. But the way we camp makes the primitive spots my family used to go look like a KOA. We either load everything we need into backpacks and hike miles and miles to a remote spot, or we load up the car with water, chairs, food, stove, tents, sleeping bags and pads and anything else we might need, and drive up a random logging road until we see a pretty spot to camp. No running water or outhouses for us.

We went camping last weekend to our favorite, the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington. We took off on a logging road off of the Curly Highway, and ended up with the most amazing view of Mt. St. Helens! It was beautiful. We pitched our tents, made a fire pit and got busy with camping.

We had delicious tinfoil dinners cooked on the coals, followed by my favorite type of s'mores: chocolate, marshmallows and crunched up graham crackers with a dab of peanut butter wrapped in foil and placed just near enough the fire to get nice and melty-gooey.

We did some yoga and watched the sun set over Mt. St. Helens. Then we bundled up for the night and had a pretty decent sleep.

In the morning we made Phillip's Breakfast, named after an old friend who made it for us when we were camping. Potatoes, onions, bacon and a little cheese all cooked in a big cast iron pan. So delicious, especially when camping. Scrambled eggs, too.

Our kids have fun finding whatever they can to play with. Sticks are very fun, and so is "bench hunting." This is when you try to find two rounds and a flat log to make a bench out of.

It's a fun adventure, and I always feel sorry for those poor suckers crammed into the park campgrounds as we drive by them in search of our little piece of heaven for our campground.

Yoga on a log. It's a test of balance.

Zachary made sure every bit of dirt was removed from this great bench seat we found.

Zachary really smiled this big the whole time we were camping.
Fire and sunset.

Savanna has awesome camping hair.

This picture of Joel was taken after he had taken a major fall onto the ground while walking through the forest looking for a seat for me to sit on while I cooked dinner. We thought for a moment we would be packing up and taking him to the ER for a broken rib, but over the next 2 hours, his pain went away, but he got some pretty cool cuts and scratches.
Joel was happy again.
Watching the sun set on Mt. St. Helens.

Kids choosing what they wanted in their dinners.

Joel chose to sleep in the back of the car.
The awesome bench we made.
Aubrey was a great chopper for our dinner makings.
Zack loves to help stir the eggs.
Our view.

Noah enjoyed our delicious breakfast.

And a little fake fighting to finish out the morning.